The Sunday letter · Mara LinIssue 01081522283337404345474848
Afterword.
Opening the journal
About
Hello, I amMara.
I write about books, cities and the hour after everyone else has gone to bed. This is where it all ends up.
- Years writing6
- Sunday letters48
- Readers12,400
About
Hello, I amMara.
I write about books, cities and the hour after everyone else has gone to bed. This is where it all ends up.
- Years writing6
- Sunday letters48
- Readers12,400
About
Hello, I amMara.
I write about books, cities and the hour after everyone else has gone to bed. This is where it all ends up.
- Years writing6
- Sunday letters48
- Readers12,400
The long story
I grew up in a flat above a in Porto, where the light came in sideways and stayed. I started writing at a before anyone was awake, then on long , then in a rented room in with a desk that faced a wall. Afterword began as to eleven friends. It is still that, only longer, and it travels further now: , into , and back to every Sunday.
Point at, focus or tap the underlined words
The years
Seven years, one Sunday at a time.
How a letter to eleven friends became a journal people wait for.
- 2019The first essayEight hundred words about a kitchen window, read by eleven people.
- 2020The newsletter startsOne letter every Sunday. It has not missed one since.
- 2022LisbonA rented room, a desk facing a wall, and the year the essays got longer.
- 2024Issue 30The letters cross a thousand inboxes and readers start writing back.
- 202612,400 readersStill one letter, still Sunday, still written before the city wakes.
Now
What I’m doing now.
- WritingA long essay about leaving Lisbon, one page a morning.
- ReadingThe Writing Life by Annie Dillard, for the third time.
- WalkingThe coast path from Porto to Vila do Conde, in pieces.
- LearningPortuguese past tenses, badly and with patience.
- Not doingSocial media. The letters are where I answer.
Updated October 2026 · Lisbon
The long story
I grew up in a flat above a in Porto, where the light came in sideways and stayed. I started writing at a before anyone was awake, then on long , then in a rented room in with a desk that faced a wall. Afterword began as to eleven friends. It is still that, only longer, and it travels further now: , into , and back to every Sunday.
Point at, focus or tap the underlined words
The years
Seven years, one Sunday at a time.
How a letter to eleven friends became a journal people wait for.
- 2019The first essayEight hundred words about a kitchen window, read by eleven people.
- 2020The newsletter startsOne letter every Sunday. It has not missed one since.
- 2022LisbonA rented room, a desk facing a wall, and the year the essays got longer.
- 2024Issue 30The letters cross a thousand inboxes and readers start writing back.
- 202612,400 readersStill one letter, still Sunday, still written before the city wakes.
Now
What I’m doing now.
- WritingA long essay about leaving Lisbon, one page a morning.
- ReadingThe Writing Life by Annie Dillard, for the third time.
- WalkingThe coast path from Porto to Vila do Conde, in pieces.
- LearningPortuguese past tenses, badly and with patience.
- Not doingSocial media. The letters are where I answer.
Updated October 2026 · Lisbon
The long story
I grew up in a flat above a in Porto, where the light came in sideways and stayed. I started writing at a before anyone was awake, then on long , then in a rented room in with a desk that faced a wall. Afterword began as to eleven friends. It is still that, only longer, and it travels further now: , into , and back to every Sunday.
Point at, focus or tap the underlined words
The years
Seven years, one Sunday at a time.
How a letter to eleven friends became a journal people wait for.
- 2019The first essayEight hundred words about a kitchen window, read by eleven people.
- 2020The newsletter startsOne letter every Sunday. It has not missed one since.
- 2022LisbonA rented room, a desk facing a wall, and the year the essays got longer.
- 2024Issue 30The letters cross a thousand inboxes and readers start writing back.
- 202612,400 readersStill one letter, still Sunday, still written before the city wakes.
Now
What I’m doing now.
- WritingA long essay about leaving Lisbon, one page a morning.
- ReadingThe Writing Life by Annie Dillard, for the third time.
- WalkingThe coast path from Porto to Vila do Conde, in pieces.
- LearningPortuguese past tenses, badly and with patience.
- Not doingSocial media. The letters are where I answer.
Updated October 2026 · Lisbon
The nightstand
What I'm reading.
The books on my nightstand this season. Some I'm halfway through, some I finished twice, one is waiting for a long weekend.
The nightstand
What I'm reading.
The books on my nightstand this season. Some I'm halfway through, some I finished twice, one is waiting for a long weekend.
The nightstand
What I'm reading.
The books on my nightstand this season. Some I'm halfway through, some I finished twice, one is waiting for a long weekend.
Field notes
From the walks.
Photographs from the places the essays were written: a street at dusk, a cliff, a cabin above the clouds.
Field notes
From the walks.
Photographs from the places the essays were written: a street at dusk, a cliff, a cabin above the clouds.
Field notes
From the walks.
Photographs from the places the essays were written: a street at dusk, a cliff, a cabin above the clouds.